Are they doing what I think they are?

This is a discussion on Are they doing what I think they are? within the Freshwater and Tropical Fish forums, part of the Freshwater Fish and Aquariums category; -->
Today I noticed one following another CONSTANTLY and am wondering if this is part of them doing the naughty or do I need to ...

Today I noticed one following another CONSTANTLY and am wondering if this is part of them doing the naughty or do I need to do something to intervene because one is being a bully? There is one that is different shaped and that's the one getting followed (a female?). It seems the one doing the following is nibbling on her privates and even ate some of her poo when it was stringing out because that's where he won't keep his nose out of ;) This is a weird question I guess, but if one is being mean I want to stop it. If they are having a private moment I will stop taking their pics LOL!
First is all 3 last night. The rest are well.... THEM.

In the first picture, the one on the left is a female. See how the fin on the bottom is fan-shaped? The bottom one on the right looks like a male - see how the bottom fin is a little one, pointed backwards? If the one being followed around has the fan-shaped fin, then it's a female.

The males always want to mate all the time. Or, she may be ready to give birth soon and he is trying to eat the babies. My male guppy used to do this once in awhile but I was never sure if he was trying to eat the babies as they came out or just being a bother. Do you just have the 2 females? If you have room you may want to add one more. I like to have a ratio of 1 male to 3 females just to help spread his attention around a little bit more.

They are just being live-bearers. Healthy live-bearers are always "doing the nasty" ( I like your terminology), or at least the males are trying to. It seems to be the sole purpose in a male live-bearer's life. I haven't kept any in a while, but it always amazed me how much "activity" goes on 'round the clock day after day to produce a single batch of babies. All this means is that your fish are healthy; water parameters, temperature, and other conditions are good and they can concentrate on other things besides just survival. Congratulations!

The 'many females' sugestion will work great as the males will spread their affection around to all, thereby giving individual females periods to relax.

They are just being live-bearers. Healthy live-bearers are always "doing the nasty" ( I like your terminology), or at least the males are trying to. It seems to be the sole purpose in a male live-bearer's life. I haven't kept any in a while, but it always amazed me how much "activity" goes on 'round the clock day after day to produce a single batch of babies. All this means is that your fish are healthy; water parameters, temperature, and other conditions are good and they can concentrate on other things besides just survival. Congratulations!

The 'many females' sugestion will work great as the males will spread their affection around to all, thereby giving individual females periods to relax.

Ralph

One died a couple days later and the 2 that remain aren't going after eachother at all. So as sad as it is to lose one, I'm happy the remaining ones can relax and just LIVE!

Your female is pregnant, if that was the one that died it was probably due to stress by the male chasing her whilst having a belly full of babies. You can section 1/4 of your tank of and when you see that the female is pregnant put the male in the smaller section. That will be better for your mothers to give birth.

Your female is pregnant, if that was the one that died it was probably due to stress by the male chasing her whilst having a belly full of babies. You can section 1/4 of your tank of and when you see that the female is pregnant put the male in the smaller section. That will be better for your mothers to give birth.

Sorry to hear that one died

There are also birthing containers for live-bearers that fit inside the tank. You can put a pregnant female inside one to keep her safe till the babies are born. These also keep the babies from getting eaten. They work great and I have used them successfully on several occasions.